How DIFFICULT Is Enjoying Different Web Media Types?

The idea struck in late summer 2013, away from the computer, while out walking and listening to a podcast. It was a hilarious comedy bit … a clean one, too! I was laughing out loud to the stares of neighbors.I thought I’d like to share that funny part of the podcast with my wife.

Simple, right?

There is a vast resource of web media content available online, mostly free. How hard is it to find and share?

It depends... how technical are you?

A casual search became more serious when I could find no REAL solution to this seemingly straightforward problem. While sharing a full episode is common — barely more than linking a regular web page — those take you to the START of the file/page.Close… but not quite what is needed.I could find NO way to easily share a specific point WITHIN an audio file with others without both sides jumping through hoops.

So, the entire decade of podcasts has been a continual sharing workaround exercise, even for techs. Perhaps only for techs. I’ve done it and maybe you have, too. Most people solve the problem of sharing podcast highlights by messaging a friend insisting they follow an arcane series of steps:

Link to the podcast website IF it has an embedded player.

Or, if your friend already has a podcast app, they must find the podcast and subscribe.

Or, have them find some online podcast aggregator with embedded player.

Or, they can go to the itunes/android store and download an app, install, and set it up.

Anyway, find the PODCAST series, usually by searching the name.

Then, find the specific EPISODE of that podcast. Most, but not all, are numbered and titled.

OK, once that ep is loaded, FAST FORWARD to a specified time (HH:MM:SS) on the player as that’s where the great content starts.

NOW, press Play and enjoy. Remember, all else was just to get to this point!

A lot of work, right? Worse, that shared highlight segment might only be a few short seconds long. Not good #TimeROI.

Even when very enthusiastic about sharing great content with a good friend, it's enough to make you think twice about all the effort involved for both parties.